The development of oil and gas fields in deep waters such as several hundred to several thousand meters typically requires the drilling of multiple wells through a template secured to the marine floor. The template serves as a base for the mounting of multiple wellheads and well completion systems. For each well, the production and control flowlines for the well are connected to a manifold by a separate wellhead connection assembly which is lowered into place from a surface vessel and installed by remote control means.
A modularized system known as the Hinged-Over Subsea Template or "Host" has recently been developed which includes a base template adapted for mounting on a Foundation System designed for the specific subsea soil conditions. The Host system comprises a set of building blocks which include the base template, a manifold, a manifold impact protection system, a control system, various tie-in systems and modules, and a plurality of Hinged-Over Guidance Structures or "HOGS" which are pivotally mounted on the template and adapted to be folded out on the marine floor to serve as guides through which the wells are drilled and wellheads established.
With the HOST system as described, the entire system must be developed and manufactured before lowering to the sea floor so as to insure that its various building blocks and assembled systems are connected and are in working order. Because of the great depths and associated problems of guiding the assemblies into position and such factors as different soil conditions under the Hinged-Over Guidance Structures, the precise orientation of the various components for accommodating installation of the various wellhead systems becomes a difficult task and may require multiple time-consuming attempts for alignment positioning. Further, where there is a misalignment of an inlet member with an outlet member, such as a wellhead and wellhead Christmas Tree assembly with respect to the manifold, the installation of a connector assembly for establishing communication between the wellhead and the manifold may require customizing the manufacture of the connector and flowline parts for initial connection and for any subsequent adjustment of the flowline.